Espresso Stout?

[D-brewmeister]

I currently have a batch of Irish stout in secondary (Kit from Midwest Homebrewing with added grains), and will likely be bottling in a few days, and I have been mulling over the idea of a caffine enhanced brew. I've heard about brewing coffe with the boil, as well as adding brewed coffee to the batch at bottling, and was wondering if anyone has tried using a few shots of espresso to add that extra zip. Two concerns I have are that the oils from the espresso would negatively impact head retention, and that it might introduce unwanted bitterness. I would think that since the coffee wasn't being boiled with the wart, there would be less of that nasty oil slick effect (we all have tried to drink a cup of coffe after it has been sitting and boiling in the pot all day, ugh!), and espresso could add a noticable flavor (and jolt ) without needing to add a large quantity of non-beer liquid, but I can only guess about all that. Any ideas, thoughts?

 

[Janx]

We did one of these many years ago. I think it was a porter.

Your thinking is right on. Don't boil the coffee grounds the whole time. Make coffee seperately and add it to your brew. You could add it to the boil, after the boil or at bottling. I think ours was in the boil, but I doubt it matters much.

I honestly don't recall any ill effects to head retention, but what you say makes sense...coffee is oily. Maybe adding it to the boil helps break down those oils?

Sorry I can't recall more details. It's been a looong time since I made many of these experimental brews

 

[arachnyd]

I did a porter many years ago, and cannot recall a lot of detail about it - but I made a basket of freshly ground espresso and poured the hot wort through it before cooling it - sort of an express drip method, as it were. I used decaf because I had a lot of it around and did not want to be drinking a lot of coffee in the evening when I was generally drinking, but the general process should still apply. I resurrected what notes I had and posted the recipe on my website - here: Pullman Porter (espresso) (this is an extract recipe)